Americans React: Can You Beat the Sun Across the UK in a Range Rover? *This Was Unexpected*
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- Опубликовано: 27 июн 2024
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Reacting To My Roots
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In this video, we react to a daring challenge: Is it possible to drive from John O' Groats to Land's End in just one day? We're talking about traversing over 800 miles across Great Britain, from north to south, in a Range Rover, before the sun sets. Spoiler alert: we still don't know, because sometimes, even the best plans don't quite work out...
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👉 Original Video by It's Joel:
• Can I drive across the...
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Remember, the UK is further north than some places in Canada so in summer the daylight starts early and days are long, in winter of course they daylight starts late and days are short.
Between, roughly, the 30th of May and 14th of July the UK does not experience true night. Even though the sun does set it is always so close to the horizon that it is only ever twilight, not night, and the sky is always somewhat light. Obviously the farther north one is the longer this period lasts.
Pretty much everywhere in the UK is north of the populated parts of Canada. I'm on the south coast of Dorset, and I'm roughly the same latitude as Calgary.
@@diagl I'm originally from Southampton so south coast too. I spent 2 years working in Edinburgh and the dawn to dusk there was very much longer. Thank goodness for the Gulf stream keeping us warm or we've have winter very much colder, like in Canada and the northern USA.
@diagl I'm on South coast in Dorset too and I honestly didn't know until very recently that UK is actually classed as being Northern Europe . I'm really not very young either. All my life and only recently found this out. SMH.😊✌
It's like the old Scottish joke: "I'm going south to make my fortune." "What, England?" "No, Canada."
Brand new Range Rover breaks down almost before he gets started. Priceless! 🤣 And then it gets worse!
Sounds like a Range Rover to me, my mum used to always buy them and every other month something was wrong with it.
@@SilverinWolvesScarletForestSno Very comfortable, though, and you can even give yourself a chair-massage while you are waiting for the breakdown recovery service.
@@Brian.001pahaha 😅
@@SilverinWolvesScarletForestSnoI'm voting Reform too. Yey !!! Let's go❤
Should of drove an electric one
In 1997 a ninety-year-old Austin Seven (748cc) did John O'Groats to Lands End in 15 hours 27 minutes!
🌹🇬🇧🌹I’m so lucky to call this country my home,beautiful
When my aunt retired. That is exactly what she did. She drove all the way around Great Britain all the coast roads as much as she could. She did stop many times, for up to 2 days at a time. To appreciate the beauty of the country.
So she didn’t do exactly that then.
That sounds like an awesome experience! Good for her. :)
@@X22GJPOP means her aunt did exactly what Steve mentioned he’d like to do, (OP didn’t mean John O’Groats to Lands End).
874 miles is a bloody long way on these roads.
You can add 100 miles on for going up and down each pothole.
He suspected he had a fuel leak so had a quick nap and joined the motorway anyway. Clever
You should find a video if the London to Brighton vintage car race held every year around November. Cars are from 1890s onwards. Are race from central London , to Brighton pier. It's truly amazing to watch.
“I’m in a hotel in New Lanark”, that’s about 15 mins away from me 😅 the walk he takes is around the World Heritage Site mill and the Falls of Clyde
where there are no speed limit signs or lower limits in place, the National Speed Limit applies, which varies on the type of road and the vehicle type, but on a _single carriageway_ (doesn't have to be a single track road, can have a divider for one lane of traffic going in each direction) that is *not* in a built-up area, is 60mph for cars that are not towing trailers.
on _dual carriageways_ and motorways (multiple lanes of traffic in each direction) it's 70.
Motorways are so-called because non-motor vehicles are banned from them, whereas they can still travel on dual carriageways.
Welcome Break is one of the motorway service station operators.
Brand new Range Rover that's probably cost an absolute fortune couldn't even make it out of Scotland without serious issues 🤔🤔😂
😂😂😂😂😂😂
I was thinking the same thing .....what a disastrous advert for Land Rover he would be better off in a Nissan....
It's biggest problem is the garish red seats !
@@eddievision Haha I had visions of the director of Land rover watching this with his head in his hands near crying haha
@@matt01506 Yes that interior colour did not look right. It would of been better with jet black or dark grey interior instead imo
A lot of tourists just stay in cities when they come to the UK. This video shows why you need to go out into the countryside
But ... Scotland is part of London, right?
@@Brian.001 No dafty! it's Scotland and Ireland that are the same place. London is the only city in the British Isles. Everything else is rural Loamshire.
@@Brian.001No Scotland is another country. London is in England the opposite end of the UK. The UK is made up of 4 countries England Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland. It might seem odd to you. But on our little Ireland (Britain) we have 3 countries. As well as some of the Ireland's in the British Isles.
The Isle of Man Jersey and Guernsey in the Channel Islands are in the British isles but not part of the UK. Each country has it's own football team and flag. We also have the union jack which is the English Scottish and Northern Ireland flags combined. I don't know why Wales isn't on it as well.
Each country is broken up into counties. I live in Cumbria near the Lake District. We can move freely between the countries no passport needed to go over the border. There will be a sign at the border saying welcome to Scotland. But that's the only way you know your going over the border. So I am English but also British. We all make up the United Kingdom.
@@Justabitnosey Very kind of you to explain all that, and so clearly. Thanks. Do I have the heart to tell you now that I was just kidding? I'm British.
@@harbl99 OK, gottit!! 🤣
About 4am and sun down at about 10pm, we live in Cornwall the home of Lands End.
John o' Groats, that is where Even McGregor and Charlie Borman started their motorcycle journey to the shouthern most point of Africa. It's a really good show worth checking out. It's called the Long Way Down. It's the second in the series, the first was the Long Way Round from London to New York the long way round. 😃
Ewan McGregor *
fun fact
bicycle record for Land's End - John o'Groats is by Michael Broadwith in 2018, Broadwith completed his ride of the length of Great Britain in a time of 43 hours, 25 minutes and 13 seconds,
covering the 841 miles at an average speed of 19.4mph/31.2km
A lot of people complain about average speed cameras but they are actually really good as they force drivers not to speed and the result is good traffic flow and less congestion.
No it makes drivers constantly watch their speedo rather than the road ahead. That causes accidents!!!!
@@TheSoupdragon1968 cruise control
@@Mean-bj8wp how wonderful, not everyone has it, or likes to use it, or can afford to have a car that has it fitted.....
@@TheSoupdragon1968 most cars these days have it. I have an no issue with checking the speed as only need to now and again really and if you maintain the gap to the vehicle ahead you should be about right anyway. And you have to be over the limit for quite awhile to get a ticket. And lets not forget that speedos are generally out by 10% so if you're double 70mph in reality its 67. Also you can have google maps on which gives am audible signal of you over speed. Average cameras really do work to help congestion and keep traffic flowing. And soon it won't be a problem with the government pushing to have GPS speed limiters as standard on new cars so no one can speed on any road.
@@TheSoupdragon1968if they can’t keep tabs on what speed they’re going without crashing then shouldn’t be on the road… it’s certainly not a reason to get rid of the average speed checks
In Winter I used to go to school and come home, in the dark. It didn't get light before 9am and was dark again before 4pm - about 6 hours of daylight. That was in Devon. Summer days were long and for kids, hard to accept that bedtime was happening when it was still bright daylight. I think on the longest day, it wasn't fully dark before around 11pm, after a 3am start to birdsong, with real sunrise coming well before 4am. Where I live now, on the opposite side of the world, it's not that different, so a comforting familiarity. And right now it's Winter.
For me the first lesson was in the dark it got light arrond 10am and dark at 3.30pm, I never thought of it as depressing but it can affect people badly. My mother has a special light to help her.
That would be really hard going to school AND coming home in the dark.
@@gabbymcclymont3563 Thinking back, primary school for me ended at 3.30, then I had a mile to walk to get home. It was dusk when I left the school and street lights were on. By the time I got home it was fully dark - usually around 4pm. Grammar School ended at 3.55, then there as a bus ride, 8 miles to my home town, followed by a 10 minute walk, so it was about 4.45 when I got home - again, very dark. But it was normal for us and we didn't think anything of it. I am sure kids today are the same! I use a daylight lamp sometimes, as the long, dark days can mess with emotional stability, so I understand your Mother's need.
@@reactingtomyroots yeh, but it was normal to us. You should check out our summer, practicly 24ht sun in the very north. Where i lived in the middle 22 hrs sun.but ifs normal to us.
@@gabbymcclymont3563 yep, I have a couple of SAD lamps too (in the UK), they help me sleep when I should sleep and stay awake the rest of the time - in north Norway their equivalent of the NHS used to hand them out gratis (assume that they still do)
Orkney and John O'Groats are seriously far north. Like 58 degrees north. The Arctic Circle starts at 60! You're almost in midnight sun territory there. So yeah, technically sunrise at 4am at the summer solstice but it started getting light well before that.
Fun fact. Axminster in Devon is further east than John o' Groats
In summer it never really gets pitch dark, it’s more like twilight all night. Gets light around 3.30 and gets darkish at around 22.00.
This time of year our skies start to get light about 4am in Britain.Our sun is setting around 10pm
Reading through the comments I find the ignorance of fellow Brits embarrassing. There's a world of difference between daylight hours in Scotland, compared to the south. So many people talking for the whole of Britain based on their own blinkered narrow view. I get the same kind of cringe when Americans talk about "The British accent". But at least Americans can be forgiven because they don't actually live here.
@@KenFullman It isn't that deep bro
@@KenFullman That's why I wrote "about" and "around". Ken nobody likes to see people whinging especially when they have no reason to whinge 🤔
@@KenFullman
They don't need to know the ins and outs of a cats arse !
The "umbrella statement" will suffice
(Im all for accurate information, but this isn't the place for it)
@@KenFullman Have a sandwich or something mate. Everything's going to be ok.
Yes, M & S have grocery outlets at Fuel stations. My local bp station has one, which i love. Fuel (diesel) on the road is a literal killer for motorcyclists.
The lesson here is.....do not buy a range rover. If it doesn't break down, it'll get stolen.
I like that at the start, he was like "I can't think of a better car to do this in"
My brother in christ, Range Rovers are renowned for being some of the least reliable cars on the road. 😂
@rsoss92js Come on now! that's a bit unfair - you saw that the massage system worked flawlessly. What do you expect for only about a hundred and thirty grand?
@@stevepage5813😂😂😂
Those trigger locks on petrol pump handles are not permitted in the UK
Really? Cos I've definitely used some..
@@dzzopenot in the UK you haven’t
Last time I used a locking trigger was in the late 70's shortly after learning to drive, it was shortly after that time when they removed the option for safety at the pumps.
@@dzzope Nope, they are illegal.
@@dzzope I have used them as well but the lock does not operate on preset amounts of fuel
here in southern UK at the moment sunrise is roughly 4am, it starts getting light about 3.30am, and its getting dark around 9.30pm
Totally.
In Birmingham (West Midlands) and it's Starting to get light at about 4:30AM and is still light at 10:30PM
Lancashire. Tomorrow 29th June the sun will rise at 4.42am and set at 9.44pm. Although it will start getting light about 3.30am and it didn't get dark until after 10pm this evening
Hi Steve and Lindsay. We have very long nautical and astronomical twilight during summer. In fact we barely enter official night during June. There are dates where we do not enter official night, staying in astronomical twilight.
That's really interesting! Maybe that's a video idea to learn more. :)
I have 5 Castles/large statley homes within a 30 mins drive; where you will pass numerous Roman villas ancient mounds etc. There's a lot everywhere ❤ oh and the cheese roll hill 15 mins away...
Hi. If you and when you come to the UK and want to do a beautiful scenic drive you really should do the North Coast 500 route. A brief discription: The North Coast 500 is a 516-mile scenic route around the north coast of Scotland, starting and ending at Inverness Castle. The route is also known as the NC500 and was launched in 2015, linking many features in the north Highlands of Scotland in one touring route. I am very fortunate to be a Scot and living in this part of Scotland.
Hope we can one day! :)
A lot of Americans think that because the UK is relatively small then they'll be able to do a driving tour in a short space of time. But the roads can get very busy and congested, there are a lot of roadworks and other delays, and journeys often take 20% more time than expected!
Also some single track routes especially in northern Scotland.
Surely you mean "at least 20% more time..."
Typical Range Rover, the world’s most expensive mobile shed ! 😅
I live in Norfolk and I LOVE Scotland. The country is SOOOOOOOOOOO beautiful !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🤗🤗🌿🌿🦋🌳
automatic speed cameras are a great idea. it means if you do say 100mph to overtake a couple of cars and then drop your speed back down once passed. you will not get an automatic speeding fine sent to you, as you have been in the limit of the cameras. but if you race between the cameras, it will show your average exceeds the speed limit, you will get a fine or court date in the post.
we also have road cameras called ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) that reads the number plates of all cars on the roads that pass every camera in the UK. this is used by the police to find any vehicle that is Stolen, involved in Crime or has no Insurance. the police also have an ANPR camera on their vehicles that will ping and bring up the vehicles details when passing a wanted vehicle. you might be able to find a video on it on YT to react too.
Range Rover owners have to accept that the vehicle will spend more time off road in the garage for problems, than it spends being driven on the road. So much for the hype about its reliability.
I was up at 4 this morning and despite the cloud cover it was light- I'm usually in bed for 10 and there is still useable light- today is wet and windy and back to wearing a coat! 🏴
I've done Hayling island, Hampshire on the south coast of England to Fort William, Scotland in just over 10 hours.
The place hotel he stopped at in was in Lanark. The river and falls were the River Clyde. The old mill buildings known as New Lanark which is now a museum and is very interesting.
Remember the adage: "In America, a hundred years is a long time. In Britain, a hundred miles is a long way."
American road infrastructure is built to facilitate high-speed, long-distance driving. British roads (as you can see) aren't. The country roads are generally narrow and winding. Even the motorways are specifically designed to avoid long straight stretches, so that drivers must stay alert and can't be lulled into a trance. This means driving in Britain, even if you stick to the motorways, requires more concentration and is more tiring than driving in America.
My husband and I used to travel between Manchester and London several times a year, a drive of something like 250 miles. This is a good five to six hours of driving (depending on traffic) and about as much as you'd want to cover in a day without pushing yourself. It will probably make you laugh in the States when I say we drove 250 miles and were always glad to stop for a break in the middle.
Ive recently moved from Manchester to Fort William in the Scottish Highlands. This is the best move I’ve ever made, the scenery is incredible. Being in the shadow of Ben Nevis the place is filled with of tourists from all nations
He he 6.38 Steve ducks his head down to look out of the car window. Try looking for videos on 'North Coast 500' also known as 'NC500'. It's a route around the most stunning parts of the Scottish Highlands. Zero People and beautiful scenery for miles and miles.
"Zero people" is wishful thinking now. It's become way too popular.
National speed limit is 60mph unless otherwise stated, motorway 70mph
Incorrect. The national speed limit is a variable number based on road type, vehicle and area, unless otherwise indicated by speed limit signs.
Dual carriageways are 70mph not motorways. Single carriageway motorways are not 70mph.
Scotland has different rules for non-motorways. They had to pass a law to make the motorway speed limit 70mph. In Republic of Ireland they have similar rules but the maximum "motorway" speed is 120kph which is about 75mph. I understand that In Wales they are considering bringing back the Red Flag.
@@kwlkid85actually, Single carriageway motorways are 70mph unless signs indicate otherwise. It's because a motorway is legally defined differently to almost all other roads (legally, a motorway is the most common class of "Special Road") and therefore the default limit becomes 70mph as soon as you pass a "chopsticks" sign (in England and Wales, anyway - the law is slightly different in Scotland).
When I go to work at 1.30 am it starts to get light but sunrise is about 4.30am
Wow, that's kinda mind blowing to us.
I'm in Inverness. Doesn't really get properly dark here at the height of summer, perpetual twighlight at night and sunrise is around 04:15, sunset around 22:15. It's quite light for a while before and after these times too. John O'Groats is further North so will have a slightly longer day. Downside, of course is, we have VERY short days in the winter!
Several years ago, I rode a Moto Guzzi T4 motorbike on what is called the Six Points Run. This means that not only visiting John O'Groats and Land's End but also the most northerly, southern, eastern and western points in the UK Mainland. Like you folks though I took my time and made it a 10 day long holiday, never really riding more than a hundred miles a day and pausing often to take in the sights.
the more northerly you are, the longer the days are in summer, and the shorter the days are in winter.
that's why in very northern Norway, it is 24 hour sunshine for a few months in the summer...
Range Rovers are absolutely lovely cars - but they are also famous for appalling reliability stats
I think he was getting tired from all the fumes 😁
21:08 That’s a motorway service station. They’re dotted up the major motorways and have to have a minimum set of 24hr facilities like showers for truck drivers, fuel, toilets, hot food, and usually a hotel. Some service stations have M&S, or Waitrose, Greggs, McDonald’s, Burger King etc depending on the chain. Very expensive fuel due to all the other 24hr facilities but they’re convenient for long journeys.
Oh okay! Ours here have some fast food/grocery stores connected to gas stations as well but they're not usually that quality haha
@@reactingtomyroots we’ve started getting them at regular gas stations here too… I have one 5 min walk away with a Greggs and Subway, and one 15min walk away with a tiny Waitrose.
Don't forget the independently owned services with a farm shop Tebay etc. People go there for a day out.
@@Justabitnosey I always stop there on my way to Northumberland. That’s a lot it tat now but it blows the big chains out of the water
@@Millennial_Manc I love it when coach driver's stop there. As they often say they want a proper meal on the road not fast food.
I was awake this morning at 4am and it was quite light at that time, although I had no intention of staying up! My mum and I drove from South Wales to Scotland, to Moffat, then Edinburgh, up to John O'Groats, across to Tongue, then Ullapool and Fort William, then back to South Wales. We did look for Nessie in Loch Ness, but she didn't show up. The roads around Scotland are some motorways, some dual carriageway but mainly the roads you're seeing in this video, single track. On the sides of many of the roads there are markers to show you how deep the snow is, now I would NOT want to drive around some of those coastal roads in the snow, they were scary enough in the summer!
Hey fellow citizen of South Wales. 👋🏻
Hi there fellow Taffy!! 😊
Returning from Northern Ireland, I drove from the ferry terminal in Stranraer, to South Wales in 6 hours with no stops. That was long enough 😴. Drove from Fraserburgh, Scotland, to Newport in South Wales; but we stopped for short coffee breaks several times so took most of the day.
Years and years ago, French autoroutes with tolls had the average speed limit thing and driving through France (I lived in France and later, Germany) from the UK, I would often see cars parked up _just before the toll,_ so they wouldn't get fined...
The initial garage thought fuel injection issues... but it was 2 seperate his issues , thats day 1 diagnosis stuff
the coastline of the UK is 7,723 miles, a lot more than you might espect but UK has a jagged coastline with lots of inlets and peninsulars.
Regarding your question about how much of the route could be done on what you would call interstates, here's a geeky fact - it is possible to travel, on motorways and our non-motorway divided highway network - called "A Roads" WITHOUT STOPPING (apart from for fuel) without hitting a single stop sign, give way sign (yield sign), traffic light or even roundabout, from the Keir Roundabout in Central Scotland to the Loggans Moor Roundabout in Cornwall, almost at Lands End. The route is 566 miles and is:
M9
M80
M73
M74
A74(M) (upgraded A road to motorway)
M6
M5
A30
By the way, motorways are funded by National/Central Government which is "Highways England", "Highways Scotland" etc whereas A roads are funded at least partly by more local government - here in London A roads come under the local Authority (I live in the borough of Harrow, for example) and/or "Transport for London" (TFL) which is the transport division of the Greater London Authority and is overseen by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.
That A74(M) road which I mentioned is probably so named because of its funding, shared between Highways Scotland and the local county authorities of Dumfries & Galloway and Strathclyde. I'm guessing on that last point - I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong. This is the internet where anyone can be corrected whether they're right or wrong!
One other point, Welcome Break is one of a number of brands of official Motorway rest stop.
I think it's because it was upgraded to motorway spec, but not for it entire length (originally) so it couldn't be redesignated. Another consideration is the vehicles that are banned from motorways - bicycles, mopeds, driven livestock! The A74 still exists, at the top end of the M74. The old A74 is now various B roads
There's the A1(M) too, which still runs off the end of the A1. Bits of the old A1 exist next to it, but have been renamed as the A168 as an extension to the original 168.
...and, of course, the M1 is an entirely different road
@@ethelmini This is all good information but I used that road from Carlisle to Glasgow from way back when. It was the A74 nearly all the way in my earliest recollection and then over the years bits of it became M74 and other bits became A74(M) while other bits were still A74. I THINK for a while it was A74 up to the Scottish border and then it acquired the M in Scotland. I just checked Google Maps and it's now an extended M6 right up to the border and A74(M) at the border. This has to be funding and jurisdiction thing - they wouldn't mess about like that just for S&G.
A74(M) is part of the trunk road network and as such paid for by Highways Scotland as are all Scottish motorways and many A roads including the A9.
Similarly trunk roads in England are funded by Highways England.
The (M) relates to it being subject to motorway regulations but it hasn't been rebuilt to full motorway standards so is still an A road.
Not all roads named as such are Trunk roads though e.g. A38(M) is classified as a Special Road and funded by Birmingham City Council
In mid summer U.K. it gets light around 3:15 am and doesn’t get dark until 10/11 pm.
But in mid winter it gets dark at 3pm and doesn’t get light until around 8am.
3pm? Bullshit, not in the UK.
@@Coolcarting Was there any need for that tone in your response? The far north of the UK starts to get dark around that time.
@@Mykst Thanks !
Definitely starts to get dark at 3pm on a shitty winters day
@@Its.My.Life. 👍👍
You guys always make me feel really appreciative of the UK, especially since times are really tough here at the minute
We used to have the locking device on our fuel pumps. You can possibly still find a few but most have been removed to stop major spillages.
I just drove from Leeds to Dunoon in Scotland. It took 4hours 45 minutes, and included a 20 minute ferry ride. After you pass Carlisle the scenery is gorgeous. Speed limit is 70mph most of the way.
All of the UK is within 70 miles to the sea
Not _quite_ true, the furthest point from the sea is just over 71 miles inland.
Yes in the summer our mornings come bright and early, 4am till around 9.30pm. M&S at the petrol station is a common sight as is most other supermarkets as they all tend to have petrol stations and usually compete with fuel prices.
When I was a kid I drove around the whole coast of Scotland with my dad (on the back of his motorbike.) We took mostly small roads the whole way. I got a sore bum but it was great.
The UK is a lot further north than a lot of people realise due to it's climate. It occupies the same latitude range as the southern provinces of Canada. We are so far north that we technically don't get night for two months during the summer, just something called Astronomical Twilight.
Today for instance, where I live has 16.5 hours of daylight between 5am and 9:30pm.
However on the 21st of December we get 7 hours 50 minutes of daylight between 8:15am and 4:05pm, and a whopping 12 hours of actual night.
In summer with good weather clear skies and no storms or clouds. sunrise is about 04:00 am and sunset is about 22:00 pm. on odd years we have an Indian summer where sunset can be at about 23:00. At the northern edge of British Territory (on A Scottish isle in the Shetland Islands) most closest to the artic you get artic days with no darkness. And twilight being able to see is always about half an hour before sunrise.
if you didnt know in the uk days are very long in the summer. The sun basically hasnt set fully the last week or two for me in northern ireland. I was in london a week ago and the sun was still up at 11pm and its still light all night then the sun comes back up fully at like 3-4am. Winters though it gets dark at like 4pm.
Sunset in London a week ago was 9.22pm BST; following sunrise 4.43am.
The treeless land is called Moorland or Moors. Occurs a lot at higher elevations. The UK was once covered mainly in forest and trees but we cut most of it down to leave what we see here.
One of my bosses jogged (with others for charity), from John o’Groats to Lands End. Over a set amount of days, and a few mandatory stops and overnight stays.
Daylight depends on the time of year - normally before summer solstice (longest day of the year - this year, it was 17 hours of daylight), it starts getting light at around 04:00, and I noticed a couple of days ago that there was still a patch of light (was still dark, there was just a patch) at around 22:20 (but usually around 21:00/21:30 you would say its night-time).
After solstice, it starts getting lighter later in the morning and darker earlier at night.
Eventually it starts getting light between 07:00 and 08:00 and getting dark at 16:00 in Autumn/Winter.
Very short days - there's been times I've left for work in the dark and come home from work in the dark.
Also where you are in the UK we used to spend our holidays in the outer Hebrides and it never got completely dark in the summer it was still light enough to play outside at midnight
He was in a motorway/highway service station, which usually includes a major coffee brand supplier, and supermarket brand shop at least. But most town based local garages have a mini supermarket attached. At hiked prices too though.
Hi Steve and Lindsey! To answer your question about how much motorway driving you would have to do, If you were driving to Land's End from John O'Groats, the journey through Scotland would mostly be on non-motorway roads with some short motorway trips. However once you get into England about 80% of the journey is on motorways. Specifically the M6 and the entire M5. Once you get to the end of the M5 at Exeter the rest of the journey continues on the A30.
Have you seen the pics of the giant on the hill? 😂 He’s got an impressive appendage, of which I’ve sat on! 🤣
The UK south coat is 52 degrees north, so in summer we have very little dark. In Yorkshire it's almost dark just after 11pm, and getting light again, before 3am. In winter conversely it's dark by 4pm. The yellow flowers is called gorse...it's a prickly shrub with flowers that smell of coconut. Only some people can smell it. You'll see it allover the country, along roads, railways, moorland etc and its a great habitat.food/shelter for many wild species. The national speed limit is 60mph and unless you see signs telling you otherwise, you can go up to that speed out on country roads, even one that is only 1 car width!
Given the choice i would do the drive in a toyota land cruiser or mitsubishi shogun unless it was a old british made land rover defender.
We chopped down 1.2 Million Oak Trees to make boats to rule the world, no one thought of replanting them😥
The yellow flower is called Broom, it's a type of shrub. Lived in the highlands for three years and enjoyed that scenery every day. Walked for three days with two friends across the Dava Moor in Morayshire for my Gold "Duke of Edinburgh Award" and we never saw any other people for the whole three days. Our water came straight from the Peat Burns.😊🧡
There's such a thing as 'civil twilight', although the sun is below the horizon, it doesn't get really dark during the summer. if you look it up on image search, there's some graphs
The national speed limit is 70mph on motorways and dual carriageways, but on single carriageways (like he's on at the start) it's 60mph, other limits will be signposted.
The road he was on is called the A9. It is very coastal from John o groats to Inverness. I have traveled from orkney to Cambridge stopping overnite at loch ness, fort william area, yorkshire dales. Extremely windy and quite cold up north even during summer so if you want a blast of adventure and isolation and rugged scenery,beaches and some viking culture then come on up north....I loved getting a break from the wind and it was a scorcher the further south we went. Always bring a raincoat!!! Btw, we drove it in a 13 year old Volvo....needed a new battery Inverness but did us well...now its always got issues and its not easy toget repairs up north either
Loved seeing both your reactions to the area and the sheep where I live and love near John O'Groats! Roughly Caithness (really northwast part) has around 24,000 people who live around the top corner of the Scottish Highlands! Very biased about the landscape that he drove in at the start (from John O'Groats to Inverness)!!
Not suprised by issues that he experienced with fancy new range rover over the deep potholes!!
The national speed limit on a non dual carriageway/ motorway road in the UK is 60 mph - though in many places you'd be mad to try and achieve that due to the winding nature of many roads. On motorways, and many dual carriageways it is 70 mph.
'Welcome Break' is a particular brand of motorway service stations (what we call rest stops) rather than a generic term.
I'm not sure if he was at a motorway services with an M&S, or on an 'out of town' shopping park which had a petrol station. He mentioned the high cost of fuel at service stations, so I'm thinking it was not a motorway service station. Our motorway service stations do have selections of regular shops, mainly selling food or books/magazines/newspapers that will appeal to the traveller - and there is always at least one fast food type outlet, or cafe where you can get hot or cold food..
He got to do some of the most beautiful and quieter sections of the proposed trip. By the time you are negotiating roads between Liverpool and Manchester, then on through Birmingham and down through Bristol the roads are going to be crowded with lots of long haul lorries at any time of day or night, and driving would be a lot more stressful.
Back When my mam used to ski she used to drive from wales to the Alps in the South of France, roughly 950 miles, with stops it took more than a day! With grumpy teenagers in the car she must've hated it but she endured it to take us skiing back before budget flights were a thing
My village has a main road running through it and the traffic has been measured in the past as travelling at up to 100mph. We now have average speed limit cameras based at the entrance and exit, and now speeding traffic is very rare. The leakage was possibly water from the aircon system, but looks more like diesel 😲😲. Welcome Break is a chain of rest stops on the motorways. Our larger supermarkets often have fuel stations attached.
I used to drive from Germany to Wales at least twice a month when I was serving in Germany. Leave on Friday afternoon and arrive back in Germany for first parade on Monday morning
At that time of year in the far north of Scotland it doesn't really get dark. It's more of a twilight where the sun dips below the horizon for a few hours before coming back up again.
Great advert for Ranger Rovers! 🤣🤣🤣 Beautiful scenery... I took a Nissan Micra (K11) to all the cardinal points of the UK... no leaks or breakdowns at all! Great little car...
Hi Steve and Lynsey, if every thing had gone to plan, he should've been able to do it comfortably. Commercial fuel pumps in the UK have the clip lock on the handle, but car pumps don't, presumably to stop motorists driving away with the nozzle still in the tank. My brother and I did a journey from Shropshire to the Outer Hebrides, by low-loader to deliver a road-roller, and return in just under 22 hours. This included 2 short ferry trips from and to the mainland and Isle of Skye, (before the Skye road bridge was built) and two 4 hour ferry journeys from and to the Isle of Skye and Harris & Lewis, the main island in the Outer Hebrides. We could've done it quicker in a Range-Rover, but we may've had to leave the road-roller behind!
I could do that in my 1.4 Fiesta no problem but it was an awesome video. Right now in the Northeast near Newcastle Upon Tyne it gets light about 4am, I'm an early bird and love watching the sun come up over the sea.
I can drive from Birmingham to Oban in Scotland in 6 hours which is 388 miles stopping once for fuel and toilets. Done it several times and the time was nearly identical.
Back in the 70s I drove down to Lnad's end, A few years ago I drove up to Inverness, near John O'groats.
Inverness isn't near to John O Groats. its over 100 miles away.
Hi Steve Lindsey . Check out Quintin Lake he walked the coastal path of Britain 6835 miles over 454 days it took 5 years
John o Groats is as far north as Kodiak island in Alaska.
its pretty cold in the far north of Scotland today. and its a bit wet. a couple of weeks ago we had snow (which is unusual).
we have one lake in Scotland. plenty of lochs though
The most I've done in a day is from Northampton to London to Dundee. Back to London then finally back to Northampton, It took around 17 hours.
This year (and yes it does vary slightly), the sun came up at JO'G at 4.02am and set at 10.25pm. At Lands End the sun rose at 5.13 am and set at 9.36 pm.
We used to have lockable fuel pumps, but at some point they decided it was a really bad idea to have unattended refueling, and they put a stop to it.
I'm in St Andrews in Scotland and on our longest day, 20 June, the sun rose at 0421 and set at 2204 (4.21 am to 10.04 pm), giving a total day length of 17 hours, 42 minutes and 29 seconds.
The land in northern Scotland once was tree covered, but it was cleared centuries ago for grazing of sheep & cattle, which prevent new growth by eating shoots.
There is also grouse shooting, & deer hunting. Many areas a new planted mostly with conifers for wood pulp production. The road is a standard country road, normal throughout the UK. Eventually he will come to duel carriageway roads, & motorways, which are more like the Highways you are used to in the US. New Lanark is a 'new' model industrial town of the 1830's,which ran on water power from the Clyde river just outside Glasgow. It is now a museum. It is not as easy in the UK to drive 800 miles as it might seem from the US . We don't have purpose made new long distance roads across empty landscapes, but a series of more or less old roads between ancient settlements, meaning there a many bends & turns & twists through a fully occupied land of farms, villages & country estates etc, which can't just be bulldozed through to facilitate traffic. So there is much more actual 'work' involved in driving, with lots of concentration needed, which is tiring.
Been nice recently, sitting out in the garden having a drink and it still light at 22:00
You should come over for a week, to enjoy our lovely countryside, and lakes! ❤
@Steve, there is a famous coast road in ireland that hugs the coast for 1500 miles, it's called the Wild Atlantic Way
I'm in Northumberland and it's light at about 4 am and starts to get dark 9.30 - 10. In the winter daylight starts about 7.45 and dark by 4ish, it's a nightmare ❤
Right now in summer, it is sunny and bright by 5am in Yorkshire.
Sunrise here this morning was at 04:35 and we are 15 miles from Lowestoft which is Britain's most easterly point. Twilight started at 03:45.
So glad he got out and showed New Lanark, it's a UNESCO world heritage centre. It's a 18th century mill village, in the Clyde Valley. The river Clyde is the river that runs through Glasgow. Lovely wee place, Sophia would love it as it has loads of stuff on for kids. It's about an hour from Glasgow & Edinburgh. This is where us locals go, so when you come add it to your list. It's not all about Edinburgh.